San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-09-28

Call me Pleasance,' said, initiating
Dan, in order to show my good breeding
81 am used to it.
'Pleasance, then. My name is William
Campion. Perhaps you would let me
play to you sometimes
In the case was a fiddle. This wonder.
full young man could play the fiddlei
Now, of all the instruments Of music
which man has ever invented for drawing
forth the soul Of man, it has always
seemed to me that the fiddle is the most
efficacious. At the first stroke of the bow
jumped in my seat and clasped my hands.
AS he stood by the window and drew out
the air softly and sweetly, my spirit hung
upon the notes, and for the time l was in
sweet heaven.
He only played one tune then. When
he had finished it, he laid back the fiddle
in its case-I noticed with what tender
ness, as if he loved it.
''Did you like it, Pleasance" he asked.
"But saw that you did"
Then l made tea, luxury not Of every
day-JOb and Jephthah, who did not like
tea, and were modest, stayed in the farm
yard among the pigs-and after tea Mr..
Campion, Dan and 1, all three, went down
to the bay and talked about boats. First
we went aboard the Dancing Polly,
and Mr.. Campion praised her lines, and
then we looked at the Chace Mary; and
when there was nothing more to be said
about either of these two crafts we got
into the dingy and went for q sail, hold
ing the tiller AIS, after the sun had set,
we got back again and went home. re-
member that there was cold boiled hand
II pork for supper, and that Job and
Jephthah, who had polished up their faces
with yellow soap till they shOne like mir
:ors, came in bashfully and sat side by
tide, eating vast quantities of pig, and
,aying never word.
Supper ended, Dan lit his pipe, mixed
his brandy punch, and, after courteously
pressing the tobacco and the spirits on his
guest, invited him to play something.
l jumped in my chair again, when Mr..
CampiOn laughed and drew his fiddle out
# the case once more.
He played half dozen tunes. Now, on
The violin, Mr.. Campion was a magician.
Tor my own part, | was carried away into
the seventh heaven from the very begin
ming. First, he played Farewell and
adieu to you, Spanish ladies'" which in
spired one with fine feeling of national
pride and respect for seafaring Britons.
Next he played, "Oh, dearl what can the
matter be-" song just then quite new,
at least to Dorsetshire folk. This made
us Just little fearful, and put us in the
right frame for early In the morning,
Just as the sun was rising" Then he
played "Within a mile o. Edinburgh
town." the most delicious ditty have ever
heard, then or since. After that he played
Jacks the lad" the song which they
have since made into the college Horn
pipe" 1t was then that Dan, who had
been Ginning in whenever he happened to
know a word or two of the song, noddlng
his head, and beating time with his pipe,
laid it down, and standing up, solemnly
executed something distantly resembling
4 sailors hornpipe on the floor. Will
went on playing it, with a laugh in his
eyes, faster and faster, till the enthusiasm
spread to Jephthah and Job, who looked at
each other guilty, and then softly arose
and retired to the adjacent farm yard,
where / saw them in the moonlight
gravely dancing opposite each other where
the straw was driest. Then viii changed
the tune, and played, singing the words
himself in a lusty, tuneful baritone,
"While the raging seas did roar" Dan
caught the chorus and sang it with him.
Heavens! what an evening we had! Then
he sang Hearts of oak" Job and
Jephthah came back for this, and steadied
each other, as the song enjoined, with
sympathetic shoulder thwacks heavy
enough to fell an OK.
Lastly my own turn came. The must
clan stopped, and his expression changed.
He looked thoughtfully for a moment, and
then, still with his eyes fixed upon me,
began to play an air, the like of which |
10 be CoH'mndI